many in my family have served… both my parents, my father-in-law, uncles and my son-in-law… as I watched the service on Parliament Hill, as I have done for many years, I was remembering the sacrifices made by Canadians to make my life safe…
last year I put my poppy on the door as I didn’t leave the house at all…
this year I’ve worn it a few times when I’ve been outside…
I’ve been thinking about generosity quite a bit lately…
recently a friend treated me to dinner and another one to lunch… such a gift;-)…
when I think of generosity, I think of generosity of spirit, kindness, and sharing the wealth as much as possible…
I think of my dad, who taught me to be kind and treat people nicely… he would have given anyone the shirt off his back…
I remember whenever he or my mom were sick and in hospital, it would be my job to fetch nuts and chocolates from Morden’s to share with the staff… that was something we did to thank individuals and groups for their help…
many years ago a colleague suggested that I did nice things for others to get attention and compliments… they were not able to understand that this generosity habit was part of who I am…
thanking those around me just seems to be ingrained in me…
for many years I would treat colleagues to flowers, chocolate and/or nuts, or something else I made, to celebrate special events… often my anniversaries or birthday… it was always great to see their enjoyment of whatever the treat happened to be…
it also brings much happiness and always reminds me of my dad…
nowadays, I am working toward sharing with others in as many ways as I can…
cooked a very large turkey for our Thanksgiving supper… worked out well, as it meant there were lots of leftovers to have… the kids even brought containers to put them into, lol…
I roasted the turkey in my parents’ WearEver roaster which hasn’t been used for many years as we haven’t had a large bird…
it brought back many wonderful memories of meals with my family…
after dinner I started soup in the roaster because there were so many bones, lol…
finished it up with vegetables, barley, and more turkey… got the soup into containers and they are in the fridge ready for the kids to pick up… they enjoy homemade soup;-)…
since then I’ve had many meals from that dinner, including turkey and dumplings with my mom’s dumpling recipe;-)…
brought the firepit onto the deck and have used it a couple of times already…
on Monday we sat around it before and after our dinner… even the dog enjoyed it…
Tuesday, my regular group sat around it in the afternoon as we met on the deck… we also had blankets if required as the temperature was around plus 10 Celsius… but it warmed us up a little and made us feel cozy… I enjoyed it as I awaited their arrival…
I’ve left it on the deck and think I might use it more there… will see how it goes when the rain stops, lol…
I’ve been thinking about the opportunities I’ve had to visit and spend time with family and friends…
one of the things I always do is wash up after meals… it started when I would visit my daughter wherever she lived… she has never liked doing dishes so it was a simple thing to do in appreciation for my time there…
whenever I have been camping with the kids, particularly when the boys were little, I would wash and have one of them dry… it was a great way to have one-on-one time and also get the job done quickly…
now, if I am visiting with friends at their cottages, it is one thing that I can do to be helpful…
one of my grandsons took this photo while we were camping this summer;-)…
recently I’ve been on a roll with construction… yesterday I spent time in the garage working on the new filing cabinet raised planter…
I saw something on social media where someone used old filing cabinets to make raised flower beds… seemed like a great idea and I had a four drawer filing cabinet in the basement that needed to be cleaned out…
last week my grandson and his friend removed the drawers – which I still have to empty – and took the cabinet outside…
they put a number of holes in the new bottom to provide drainage… the metal was really thick and it took a while to produce the holes…
it was a very sad brown colour, so he spray painted it a lovely shade of gray and set it inside the garage to cure…
yesterday I dug out various bits and pieces of insulation which I cut to size and put all around the inside… and I knew where all the things I needed were, lol…
now it needs one more coat of paint before moving into the shade garden and getting filled with soil so it will be ready for spring planting…
the space in the garden is all ready… the guys had already removed the old leaking pond and filled that spot in with wood and dirt…
we took a trip to the East Coast in 1988 or 1989 – amazing what I forget these days, lol…
the four of us, plus my beloved’s mom… we had bought a tricked out van and the trip was great…
when we got to the coast we had lobster at every stop because the four of us loved it… George’s mom couldn’t figure out why we kept eating it as she didn’t like it that much, lol…
while we were there, we found a beach that had coal all over it… we had such fun collecting a bagful to bring home to use for first footing…
I’ve been down to one fairly large piece for a a few years now, so I’ve been careful with it…
as I was working away in the garage, cleaning, sorting, dumping stuff, I found the original bag filled with a whole lot more…
